The South China Sea: Waves of trouble

SCSC - The rocks and coral known as James Shoal are not much: just a raised stretch of seabed 22 metres (72 feet) below the surface and 107km (67 miles) off the coast of Malaysian Borneo.

Yet China, 1,500km to the north, regards it as the southernmost point of its territory, at the base of a vast U - shaped swathe of the South China Sea, demarcated by a “nine - dash line” on maps that now appear even in Chinese passports. [READ MORE]